This season has been a wretched one for Nuno Santo’s small squad at Wolves.
They have been dealt countless injury blows which means we won’t see the likes of Jonny, Daniel Podence, Pedro Neto or Raul Jimenez until next season.
That being said, a return is edging ever closer for their Mexican sensation.
Jimenez has been missing since November after a horrifying clash of heads with Arsenal defender David Luiz.
The forward fell to the floor in agony as he was then stretchered from the field. The prognosis was that Jimenez had fractured his skull, an injury that would keep him out for an extended period of time.
He’s been able to progress from basic fitness work into full competitive training from March but has been unable to fully involve himself in powered heading and aerial duels.
Wolves announced on Wednesday evening that he wouldn’t play again this season but they did provide an exciting update on when he may back in action.
In a club statement, they revealed that Jimenez is expected to be fit and ready in time for the start of the 2021/22 campaign.
Club doctor Matt Perry said: “His skull fracture has now healed well; he will wear a protective headguard to cover the area of bony injury for the remainder of his career, but it is adjudged strong enough for him to return to play with this protection.
Perry continued: “A brain injury such as concussion can take weeks and months to recover fully and TBI will sometimes leave lasting deficits. It is wonderful to be able to say that Raul has made a remarkable and excellent recovery to date.
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“Further match-based rehabilitation will start in July and will be tightly controlled initially. This respects the fact that although his recovery appears to be total there is a big step from training to competition.”
This is simply wonderful news, and it’s likely to leave the manager absolutely buzzing.
Without Jimenez this season, Wolves have struggled significantly in the final third.
Their top scorers are Ruben Neves and Neto on just five goals while Fabio Silva and Willian Jose have only netted a handful of times between them as well.
Silva has started to progress nicely in the back end of the campaign but Jose’s arrival from Real Sociedad has not gone according to plan.
He hasn’t suited the club’s style of play and has one goal to show for his efforts at Molineux.
Jimenez is a natural born goal scorer so to have him back next season will be a massive boost to their chances of finishing in the top half.
Last term, the 30-year-old bagged 27 strikes and also racked up ten assists. To have that sort of volume missing from your attack will trouble any team.
Nuno will be dancing for joy that his main man is making a full recovery.